I remember well the night when Obama won the election. I was out seeing some bands at an underground music venue in Brooklyn and the band that was playing stopped so we could watch the coverage projected on the wall. When they finally declared the results the place erupted in...

The day after my college graduation in June 2006, I boarded a plane bound for Dublin with nothing but a backpack, a Eurail pass and a reservation at a youth hostel. As a graduation present, my brother, a paramedic, and my father, a tile setter, had each contributed $1000 to...